A Study in Sin
by lunar47
Summary: A Drabble Series focusing on the Seven Deadly Sins. First in the Series: Lust: Coulson/Skye "The way you eat that is obscene..." 2nd: Pride Coulson/Skye Hacking is not all it's cracked up to be. 3rd: Gluttony Trip/Simmons Trip has a sweet tooth.
1. Lust

Lust

It was late at night as the bus made its way across the Gulf of Mexico, business complete in São Paulo, Brazil. Another escapee from The Fridge was back in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, the local government thrilled not to have to deal with the matter themselves. Nobody on the team was injured and they caught their culprit so Coulson declared it a win all around.

The agent himself was sitting in the lounge. A fingers worth of good bourbon, mixing slowly with melting ice, sat on a coaster on the table before him. His tablet was open to that week's Agency wide mission reports and he was doing his best to keep his eyes open. He really should go to bed but he wanted to power through the last few. He rubbed his face and sighed.

"Hey, boss man." Skye walked around the corner and looked expectantly at the table. "Can I sit?"

"Yeah, sure." He gestured to the seat across from him and she plopped down. She placed a bowl on the table and he craned his neck to take a peek at the contents. "What is that?" He asked, genuinely stumped.

"It's a mango." Skye picked up the knife that was placed on top of the bowl and began to cut into the ripe fruit.

"It's purple."

"I'm told it's called a Palmer mango. Fitz and I picked up a whole box from the Central Market in the city." She lifted a slice to her mouth and scraped the pulp from the skin. "It's pretty good. Do you want some?"

"No, but thank you." Coulson lifted up his tablet and scrolled to the next report. He tried to concentrate, he honestly did, but Skye was staring at him with her big brown eyes. And he was finding that it was becoming harder and harder to resist their pull as time went on. He didn't want to admit to himself that this was becoming a problem.

"Yes, Skye?"

"Nothing." She sliced another quarter and popped it in her mouth. "Just bored. Can't sleep." She said around her food. "So what big mission are we headed off to next?"

"Scheduled R & R actually."

"No shit. Where? Las Vegas? Hawaii?" She asked hopefully, batting her eyes.

"Bakersfield."

"Wow," Skye deadpanned. "You sure know how to show a girl a good time."

"I hear they have an interesting clock tower."

"Well sign me up for that, A.C."

"In all seriousness it's a refueling and resupply stop. Leave is kind of a byproduct." He placed his tablet on the table and swirled his drink around the glass.

"I see." She finished cutting slices off the mango and put the knife down on the table. Bringing the pit to her mouth, Skye began to suck at the remnants of the pulp.

This was the point at which Coulson made a crucial mistake. He had been in the process of taking a sip of his watered down bourbon when he glanced at Skye from the corner of his eye. Her pink tongue was darting in and out of her mouth, lapping at the soft flesh. Sweet, sticky, juice was running down her chin and she moved her hand to wipe at it. His imagination immediately went to unmentionable places. His stomach dropped and his cheeks felt warm. Liquid went down the wrong pipe and he sputtered. Coulson brought a hand up to his chest and coughed deeply.

"The way you eat that is obscene."

"What?" she exclaimed with confusion.

Skye was entirely oblivious to the effect she had on him.

_Professional, stay professional_, he thought. _All 1072 tenants of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Code of Ethics_. Not thoughts of Skye or her mouth, or especially the things her tongue could do. He needed another drink. Or it was entirely possible he had drunk too much. He needed to go to bed or at the very least get as much distance from her as a plane could feasibly provide.

That decided he stood up so quickly he banged his knees on the underside of the table. He surreptitiously leaned over to rub his right knee as he watched Skye's concerned face.

"Are you okay, Coulson."

"Fine. Goodnight Skye." His voice came out slightly strained.

"Night. See you for morning report?" She still sounded slightly befuddled about Coulson's behavior.

"Of course." And with that he made a quick exit for his cabin.

Once in his room he let out a breath he seemed to be holding since Skye started eating that damn fruit. It wasn't the first time he had thought of her in a less than mentor-mentee manner but he was usually good about stopping those musings before they really got started.

Coulson closed his eyes and sighed. It was really unfair; to both Skye, who was so young and under his command, and himself, who should really know better.

He would try harder, for the both of them. In the meanwhile he would attempt to get that sleep that he knew would probably be impossible, thoughts of Skye and that infernal mango haunting him all the way.


	2. Pride

Pride

"Okay let's go over this one more time before we head in," Coulson sits in the driver's seat of the parked car. Skye is sitting in the passenger seat dressed smartly for the gala they were about to crash.

She recaps their mission, "We use the invite we got from your contact, make our way into the party, schmooze." Coulson narrows his eyes but allows her to continue. "Then we break away when no one is looking, find the server room and I use my brilliant hacking moves to get the information that we need."

"Essentially that is the objective. You ready?"

"Yup. Let's do this." She hops out of the car, stumbling momentarily on her high heels, and joins a much more graceful Coulson on his side of the vehicle. She places her hand in the crook of his arm and they walk to the front entrances of GlobalTech.

Their invite gets them through the door and soon they are milling amongst the employees at their annual investors soiree. The floor is crowded with women in elegant cocktail dresses (a couple thousand dollars out of Skye's price range). The men are in tuxes. There's a live band in the corner playing old jazz tunes.

"This is way fancy for a corporate shindig. I feel decidedly underdressed."

Coulson gives her a once over before declaring that she looks fine.

"Do you even know fashion?"

"I know enough," he replies coolly.

"Right." Skye smirks. "I need a drink."

"We're supposed to be working."

"I'm trying to fit in here." Skye makes her way to a waiter who is handing out flutes of champagne. She takes a sip when she gets a glass, "That's better."

"Ooh what is this? A shrimp puff?" She grabs one off the passing serving plate and pops it in her mouth.

"I wish there was dancing."

"You want to dance?" He seems amused.

"Is that an offer?" She raises her eyebrow totally willing to flirt with him.

"I would but no one else is dancing and we are supposed to keep a low profile. Rain check?"

"I'll hold you to that."

He places his hand on the small of her back and guides her to the rear portion of the room.

Coulson looks down the hall to the elevators. "The coast looks clear. Let's get this done." Skye ditches her glass of champagne on a nearby table and they make their way to the elevators and then down a couple of floors to the server room. They narrowly avoid a passing guard in the process.

Skye finds a computer to connect with and she plugs in the USB from her purse.

"We might only have a few minutes so let's do this quickly." Coulson takes his place behind her.

"This should be a piece of cake." She tries her usual methods to hack into the mainframe but they don't work. She works at it for a while longer.

"Huh. That's odd."

"If you can't do this Skye, I'm pulling the plug. We can find the information another way." Coulson leans over her shoulder, arms crossed.

"Would you hold your horses?" Her fingers race across the keyboard. She receives another error message, another dead end. She curses under her breath and Coulson gives her a look like he doesn't approve.

"I don't know what's wrong. All our pre-op info had this as an easy hack. But something or maybe someone is keeping me out."

"Can you get passed it?"

"I'm trying," Her voice is full of frustration. She tries a different avenue of attack, a trick she learned from Miles and had developed further while working with the Rising Tide. But it doesn't work. Skye shakes her head in disbelief.

"Okay that's it. We're done. Come on Skye." His hand is on her elbow easing her out of the chair.

"Wait, let me try again. I know I can do this."

"We don't have time." He says sternly. Skye's face falls. She didn't want to disappoint him and she felt like she has.

Coulson sighs and when he speaks again his voice is soft and understanding, "You did your best Skye. We'll find another way."

She nods, resigning herself to her failure. She grabs her USB and follows Coulson out of the server room.

The hallway is clear and they are able to make it back to the party unseen. A part of her wants to grab another glass of champagne and drown her sorrows. But it's the unproductive non-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent part of her.

Coulson leans into her, grabs her hand and holds it tight in his. He leads her through the crowd of revelers and out the doors of GlobalTech. They don't speak all the way back to the Bus.

Back on the plane Coulson confers with May while Skye goes to change out of her dress. Her mind is still stuck on the job she couldn't complete. Skye was a hacker. It was practically ingrained into her DNA. And if she didn't have that than what was she?

She washes her face and makes her way back to her cabin. She isn't sitting on her bed for long before there is a knock on her door. Opening it reveals Coulson, still dressed in his evening suit.

"Let's get a drink."

"I don't know. I think I'm just going to sulk in private." She says reticently.

"Well how about you sulk with me while drinking a beer."

Skye considers it and ultimately nods. She follows him out to the kitchen where he grabs two beers from the fridge, opening both and handing one to her. She takes a sip and leans against the counter.

"Look I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about tonight. I don't know what happened. I thought my skills were good enough. Obviously not."

"That's okay. We're not going to get the win every time. And this was a long shot to begin with. "

"But I feel like if I can't do this than what is the point of me being with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Skye, you are so much more than a hacker. That is merely one facet of the myriad of things you can offer this organization." He places his hand over hers on the countertop. It feels good to know that he has confidence in her, that he believes that she has worth beyond her skills with a computer.

"That's good to know. I'll endeavor to live up to that. I want to be able to do more with S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Well, we'll make sure you get that opportunity." He still hasn't removed his hand from hers. She doesn't want to admit that it feels good, that all her recent physical contact with Coulson has felt good. She's never really analyzed the way she feels about him before. He's her boss, her mentor, she feels like she can call him her friend after everything they have been through. Anything more sends a funny feeling to her stomach, not entirely unpleasant.

"You looked beautiful tonight, by the way." She's thrown by the compliment and sudden change in conversation.

"Thank you," Skye replies sincerely. "I had fun dressing up. You looked pretty good yourself. But then you always look good in a suit."

The corners of his eyes crinkle when he smiles at her. She grins back and she can feel herself blushing under his gaze. His thumb is rubbing light circles on her skin and it causes her to shiver.

"Sir?" Skye wants to know what they're doing here but doesn't want to ruin the moment.

Coulson finally seems to realize what he is doing and removes his hand from hers. She misses it when it's gone. Skye notices how his eyes avoid hers as he finishes his drink and places the bottle in the recycling bin.

"You're doing good work Skye," he's back to business. "You'll be more successful next time." And with that he leaves her to her half-drunk beer and confused emotions.


	3. Gluttony

18:00

18:01

18:02

The seconds inched closer and closer to his twenty minute goal for the afternoon. Trip wasn't too fond of formal exercise like running on the treadmill (his current activity). He much preferred working out in the field: obstacle courses, biking, even running outside were preferable to indoor exertion.

But exercise, especially the amount he got up to, was necessary. All because of his cursed sweet tooth. He loved candy, chocolate especially. It all started when he was a little boy and his grandmother gave him a butterscotch sweet from her purse after he completed a chore. Soon enough he was inventing chores as an excuse just to get the tasty treat from her.

One day after this had been going on for a while his grandmother poked him in his rapidly softening belly and told him that if he didn't pair his sweets habit with some exercise he would end up fat and alone.

He knew now that the elderly woman had meant well. Even if what she said had been a bit rude. But it had scared him into a lifelong habit all the same.

19:00

19:01

19:02

Speaking of sweet things, he watched the always lovely Dr. Simmons analyze slides under her high powered microscope. He could see her sitting inside the lab from his vantage point on the treadmill. He noted how soft her hair looked, how a strand seemed to have escaped her clip and was now brushing her cheek. She blew air forcefully out of the side of her mouth to try to move the offending piece of hair but it didn't budge. Finally she leaned back from the scope and redid her whole hairstyle. He won't mention how good she looked with her arms stretched and her chest puffed out.

He honestly didn't know if he had a chance with Simmons. They started on uncertain terms. She didn't trust him. And he didn't blame her. If he had been in her shoes and he was asked to trust someone who had once been allied with Garrett, he didn't know if he could get past that. It would take time definitely. He wanted to show her that she could believe in him. And that maybe something could come from that. He liked her. _Liked her_, liked her. And if he read her right she kind of liked him too.

19:58

19:59

20:00

He stopped the treadmill and took a sip from his water bottle. He was going to roll the dice and take a chance on Simmons. Who knew the outcome? But nothing was going to happen if he didn't try.

He made his way to the lab, pressed a button and the door slid open. Simmons was focused on her samples and didn't notice his intrusion into her usually private sanctum. She looked cute, so intent she was bent over the microscope.

"Jemma."

"Hmm," She seemed distracted at first but eventually she looked up, and then did a double take.

"You look hot." Simmons stopped, her mouth opening and closing a few times before continuing. "And by hot I mean temperature hot not physically hot. Not that you're not physically attractive, you are. I don't know what I'm saying anymore so I'm going to shut up now."

He smiled at her awkwardness. "Hey I was thinking about getting a drink. You in?"

"Oh, I don't know. I think I'm in the mood for ice cream."

"Even better. I believe we have chocolate."

"Perfect." Simmons smiled brightly and put away the samples she was working on. Then she hopped down from her seat. They walked out of the lab and up the stairs to the kitchen. He had a feeling he was going to need to schedule an extra exercise session after this.


End file.
